National Day of Reason, Thursday, 5th May 2022

Although this is mainly an American-based celebration, I think it's a rather good one for everyone internationally. It was originally created to give non-religious Americans an alternative to the National Day of Prayer, which has the status of being a statutory observance despite the secular obligations of the American constitution. So National Day of Reason is the secular equivalent for humanists, secularists, freethinkers, agnostics and atheists! 🥳🎊🎉🎊🎉🍰🧁🥧🥂

It's definitely a day for me, personally as well as a philosopher! I am all of the above, except that I am more specifically an Humanistic Jew as well as a secularist, freethinker and agnostic. I've discussed my stance on atheism, agnosticism, and freethinking in previous posts on this blog, as well as my being an Humanistic Jewish philosopher. 

As freethinkers, I think Spinoza, Shepherd (Mary) and Cavendish (Margaret) would be in on this celebratory day too! As well as Hume, J.S. Mill & Harriet Mill, Arendt and Foucault. I'm sure there are more philosophers where they come from but they are the ones I focus on.

In this post, I have an even narrower focus, and that is expanding on Humanistic Judaism because it's reason-based rather than dogma or Scripture or faith-based. 

It is perhaps not widely known that this is the only form of Judaism that coheres with all of these because people associate Judaism with Orthodox branches and perhaps venture as far as learning about progressive Jewish branches which are also religious. Indeed, Judaism is maybe the only religion which has an humanistic branch. This gives you the freedom to think for yourself, be secular but remain within the Jewish community as a whole, alongside religious Jews. Yet it gives you the freedom to believe what you want to believe within your own freethinking and reason. You don't have to be an atheist to be an humanist, or secularist or freethinker. And reason is not necessarily in opposition to some form of faith, it's just in opposition to blind faith and a leap of faith. But it doesn't preclude, for instance, those who are agnostic theists (who believe there probably is a God just think it's unlikely to be proveable), agnostic humanists, deist freethinkers ie. Thomas Paine, and secularists who may either be non-religious or may believe in a God and just think you should not mix religion with society, education or politics. 

Here's a list of rational philosophical principles underpinning Humanistic Judaism, which fit together with freethinking, secularism, reason, agnosticism or atheism:

✅ Emphasises Jewish identity and Judaism as a culture, defining a Jew as one who identifies with the Jewish people and their culture, history and share their future. There is a focus on preserving Jewish identity, heritage and doing so in a free, pluralistic world

✅ No dogma!

✅ Advocating Secularism (separation of religion from the state) 

✅ Religion is only one aspect of Judaism, alongside history and culture

✅ Judaism was created by the Jewish people and their Jewish experiences

✅ Scripture has been put together by humans and needs to be analysed within the context of archeology, biblical criticism, and Jewish history 

✅Humans can shape their own lives without being reliant on a supernatural authority and don't believe in/pray for supernatural intervention

✅ Humans have the power to resolve human problems

✅ Moral code is a human code and relates to this world. Compassion, empathy and the consequences of our actions take precedence over interpretations of any preordained rules or commandments in scripture (only really relevant where there is a clear clash of principles). Basic ethical values include equality, honesty, integrity. 

✅ Customize and personalise your wording, celebrations and Jewish life. Learn and study Judaism (religious and non-religious aspects) as deeply as you wish and form your own opinions. 

✅ Freethinking 

✅ Human reason and responsibility is central. Any philosophy of life is also human-focused, together with a sensitivity to environmental concerns and animal welfare.

✅ Connection to the natural universe 

✅ Social justice is key

✅ Celebrate all Jewish holidays and customise them to the level and style of observance that suits you. The festivals are an important way of being at one with the wider Jewish community while commemorating and remembering shared Jewish history and culture 

✅ Having a joyous approach to Judaism and the Jewish community

✅ Radical inclusionist and anti-discrimationist by celebrating, having full equality for and being fully inclusive of:

LGBTQ+, non-conforming, women, multiracial, people of colour, people with learning or physical difficulties, interfaith, marital status, intercultural, people of all heritages and backgrounds, and anyone who adopts Humanistic Judaism and those who have been marginalised in other branches of Judaism

✅ Remove obstacles to encourage full participation for all, and without any religious restrictions on how they choose to observe Judaism and lead a Jewish life

✅ Cherish Jewish culture, history, values, ethics, an the Hebrew language

✅ Study, learn about and talk about Jewish and world issues 

✅ Humanistic Jews can believe in G-d outright (although this is rarer); or be atheists; or be agnostics and/or ignostics. 

These latter two: 

agnosticism (G-d may or may not exist)

and ignosticism (the existence of G-d is a meaningless question because the definition/concept of G-d is inadequate)

are two distinct but compatible beliefs/stances that I hold. Within agnosticism, I'm an open agnostic (leaving it an open question whether we will ever know about the existence of G-d), although, rather like Hume, I always retain a healthy dose of doubt, since human reason is such that we cannot reach absolute certainty about anything, let alone finding necessary or sufficient rational or empirical (or emotional) evidence to justify a belief in G-d. I don't particularly lean strongly towards either theism or atheism within agnosticism, unlike agnostic atheists or agnostic theists. I prefer to suspend judgement and be an agnostic-agnostic, as it were!